Food Quality

Most fresh foods contain more than 70% water, while fresh fruits and vegetables can contain up to 95% water. Thus water status of foods is deeply related to their quality. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), based on the 780 – 2,500 nm wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum has been developed as a nondestructive tool for food quality monitoring. It has been observed that in many foods the NIR signal is dominated by the absorbance of water and multivariate analysis of NIRS frequently demonstrates that the water absorbance band, located around 1450 nm, is the main contributor to quality prediction (Tsenkova 2009). This confirms that water status is a key indicator of food quality.

As a major part of the food, water and its absorbance pattern provide a holistic marker for monitoring the food quality in a completely non-destructive manner as well as for measurements of various food properties and components (Atanassova et al. 2009, Bázár et al. 2016, Cattaneo et al. 2009, Esquerre et al. 2009, Iwamoto, Uozumi, and Nishinari 1987, Atanassova 2015, Gowen 2012, Cattaneo et al. 2016, Barzaghi, Cremonesi, and Cattaneo 2017, Tsenkova et al. 1999). The same concept developed for water quality monitoring(Kovacs et al. 2016) is equally applicable in this field.

Iwamoto, M., J. Uozumi, and K. Nishinari. 1987. “Preliminary investigation of the state of water in foods by near infrared spectroscopy.” Proceedings of the International NIR/NIT Conference, Budapest, Hungary.